Dow Chemical Co (DOW): Today's Featured Chemicals Loser

Dow Chemical ( DOW) pushed the Chemicals industry lower today making it today's featured Chemicals loser. The industry as a whole closed the day down 1.4%. By the end of trading, Dow Chemical fell 49 cents (-1.5%) to $32.86 on average volume. Throughout the day, eight million shares of Dow Chemical exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 8.8 million shares. The stock ranged in price between $32.86-$33.48 after having opened the day at $33.46 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $33.35. Other company's within the Chemicals industry that declined today were: Lizhan Environmental ( LZEN), down 17.9%, Gevo ( GEVO), down 10.7%, Solazyme ( SZYM), down 8.4%, and Intrepid Potash ( IPI), down 7.7%.

The Dow Chemical Company manufactures and supplies chemical products used as raw materials in the manufacture of customer products and services worldwide. Dow Chemical has a market cap of $40.38 billion and is part of the conglomerates sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 18.2, equal to the average conglomerates industry P/E ratio and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 16% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are five analysts that rate Dow Chemical a buy, two analysts rate it a sell, and eight rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Dow Chemical as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.